Severe cold, along with 11 to 35 cm (more than a foot) of snow, devastates butterfly population.

Almost one-and-a-half million Monarch butterflies in Michoacan died frozen by the recent snowfall recorded temperatures of 12 degrees Celsius below zero, says Homero Gomez Gonzalez, president of the Board of Directors of the El Rosario sanctuary.

However, they have found that many still breathe and fly again as the sun melts the snow.

According to his calculations, three percent of the 50 million butterflies arrived this season to the nature reserve died frozen and buried, after the snow generated by the winter storm reach 11 to 35 centimeters thick.

A larger number of dead butterflies is expected.

The good news is that the staff has found the presence of clusters and trunks covered with butterflies in good condition.

Monarch butterflies ( “Danaus plexippus”) migrate every year more than 4,000 kilometers from Canada and the United States to establish its colonies in the temperate forests of fir, within the limits of Michoacan and the State of Mexico.